Vehicle manufacturing is a difficult process that requires coordination of both manufacturing personnel and the physical components of a vehicle within an assembly plant to ensure the vehicle is properly assembled within a given timeframe. Generally speaking, the more components that must be installed in a vehicle at an assembly plant, the longer it takes to assemble the vehicle, which, in turn, reduces the capacity and efficiency of the plant. Further, the increase in the overall number of components likewise increases the number of manufacturing operations and, often, the number of personnel required to assemble the vehicle. As a result, the cost associated with operating the assembly plant and producing the vehicle is increased.
Vehicle manufacturers strive to reduce the number of components of a vehicle to the extent possible to reduce the cost associated with manufacturing the vehicle and, further, to simplify the manufacturing process. However, when a reduction in components is not possible or economically feasible, vehicle manufacturers often source subassemblies from automotive component suppliers that require little or no assembly time in the vehicle manufacturer's assembly plant. For example, vehicle manufacturers routinely source fuel-door housings that arrive at their assembly plant complete with a fuel door assembled to the housing. The fuel-door housings and accompanying fuel doors are typically sequenced with the production schedule of the vehicle manufacturer such that each fuel-door housing is ready to be installed in an outer panel of a specific vehicle without requiring additional assembly steps by the vehicle manufacturer.
While conventional fuel-door assemblies may be properly sequenced with a production schedule of a vehicle manufacturer and provide the vehicle manufacturer with a ready-to-install subassembly, conventional fuel-door assemblies cannot be sourced to the vehicle manufacturer's assembly plant with other components connected to the housing. For example, conventional fuel-door housings cannot be sourced to a vehicle manufacturer's assembly plant with a remote-actuator assembly and associated release cable preassembled to the fuel-door housing, as such components prevent installation of the fuel-door housing into the outer panel of the vehicle. As a result, the actuator assembly and release cable must be sourced to the vehicle manufacturer's assembly plant as separate components and must be installed after installation of the fuel-door hosing into the outer panel. Requiring the actuator assembly and release cable to be separately sourced to the assembly plant therefore increases the overall complexity and time required to produce a vehicle which, in turn, increases the overall cost associated with producing the vehicle.